Planet of the Gingers
by JunoInferno
Summary: The Doctor, Donna, Amy and Rory are shopping on a new planet for groceries and a critical TARDIS part when they encounter an unexpected prejudice that is also really inconvenient. Sequel to An Uninvited Ginger.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: I do not own the Doctor, Donna, Amy or Rory or Doctor Who or Winnie the Pooh or Tigger. Copy that? DO NOT OWN ANYTHING OWNED BY DISNEY. Whew, anyway, this is the sequel to An Uninvited Ginger, I don't suppose you need to read that unless you want to know why Amy and Rory are on the TARDIS with 10 and Donna. Enjoy and please let me know what you think!

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><p>Donna followed a very prescribed morning routine which she thought was an accomplishment for a time traveler. First, get up. Second, wake Zara if she hadn't already done so. Then Zara demanded her morning feeding before she moved from the nursery. After that, they could finally move on to the kitchen where Donna got to eat the copious amounts of food required for carrying one Ginger Time Baby and nursing another while she got Zara to eat a bit of pureed banana and some oatmeal usually. This morning, though, there was a kink in her well executed routine.<p>

"Doctor!," shouted Donna. "Doctor!"

There was no response and she groaned. Zara looked at her.

"Banana?"

"I know, sweetheart, I know." She picked Zara up out of the highchair and started down the hall. "Oi! Spaceman!"

She found the Doctor in the library, using her laptop.

"Alright, spaceman, we have a serious problem. Your ship's cold storage is seriously in need of mending."

"Well aware of that, Donna."

"Well, go fix it!" She looked over his shoulder. "Are you on eBay? Get out of there, spaceman, you have enough of a hoarding problem already."

The Doctor looked up at him offended. "I am not a hoarder!"

"You have every piece of clothing you've worn for nine hundred years, you're a hoarder."

"I've not got the TARDIS stacked up to the ceiling with old newspapers and empty tins, have I?"

"I don't know, there could be a room like that. When was the last time you threw something out?"

"I threw out the TARDIS manual."

Donna's jaw dropped, she readjusted Zara on her hip. "The TARDIS manual? You binned the TARDIS manual? The one thing you might actually need?"

"We had a disagreement," muttered the Doctor. "You may like to know that I am searching for a new internal cooling coil, it's a very hard part to find."

"Why don't we just buy a fridge and plug it in?"

"Donna! You can't insult the TARDIS like that!"

"Hmm, sorry, Zara, sorry Chloe, we have to starve to death because we can't insult the TARDIS."

The Doctor groaned. "Are you still calling her Chloe?"

"I'm getting used to it, a little ordinary, but it's not like she's going to get mixed up with all the other Time Ladies named Chloe, is she?"

The Doctor was silent.

"What's wrong with the name Chloe?"

"Nothing...we should just think of something else before you become more attached to it."

"Chloe," said Zara and the Doctor scowled.

"See? She likes it," said Donna. She sighed, "Come, Zara, let's go make some toast before that goes bad."

Amy and Rory arrived in the console room, ready for a day of adventure and instead got...

"Oh, we're going shopping," said the Doctor.

"Shopping?," asked Amy. "Shopping?"

"We need a new coil, some problems in the kitchen and we need to replace the food," said the Doctor. "Planet Red 7, has the part we need and should have a decent grocery store. Hang on."

They clung on to the railing and the TARDIS landed.

"Well, is it cold out?," asked Donna.

"How do I know?," asked the Doctor.

"I need to know if Zara needs a hat."

"She doesn't need a hat."

"And do you know that or are you just saying that?" Donna sighed and took a knit beret for Zara out of the nappy bag and put it on the baby's head, tucking in her ginger curls.

"So," said Amy, "alien grocery store? Do we need money or something?"

"I'll go with you, Amy," volunteered Rory.

"What? I go all by myself?," asked the Doctor.

"Won't they need help to carry?," asked Rory, trying to hint to the Doctor.

The Doctor shook his head. "Don't see why."

"Why don't you two take Zara?," suggested Donna. "Amy and I can manage just fine if we don't have to take the pram."

Rory wanted to throw up his arms and scream, but he resisted.

* * *

><p>They stepped out of the TARDIS and found themselves in what looked like a town square. Everyone was wearing funny shaded goggles as they went about their business. Amy looked up and saw what looked like a poster of a ginger, with words she couldn't read.<p>

"Doctor, what's that say?," she asked.

The Doctor looked up and squinted. "Don't know, TARDIS hasn't translated it yet, it's a little slow on writing sometimes."

"Too bad we don't have the manual to tell us how to speed that up," said Donna as she re-situated Zara's beret. "Now, don't touch it. It's a bit chilly here and be good for Daddy and Rory." She looked at the Doctor. "Two bottles and a packet of yogurt melts in the bag."

"Uh-huh..." said the Doctor, pondering the goggles.

"Rory?," said Donna.

"Two bottles and a packet of yogurt melts," answered Rory.

"See you boys later," said Amy.

"Right..." said Rory. "See you later! Have fun!"

Amy gave him a quizzical look and resumed following Donna down the walk. Rory took the pram to the Doctor.

"The lenses in the goggles are shaded," mused the Doctor. "Why are they shaded?"

"For the sun?," asked Rory.

"Sun's not that bright here," said the Doctor. "Doesn't make sense that everyone would have them. Nothing blowing that could get in the eye, but look even the babies have them. Doesn't make sense..."

"What does that mean?," asked Rory.

"No idea," said the Doctor. "Anyway, allons-y."

"Allons-y?," asked Rory.

"Yeah, it's French for 'Let's go.' What are they teaching you in Leadworth?"

"I took French with Amy," he said.

"Oh," the Doctor smiled. "It all makes sense now. I bet you didn't learn any French at all."

"I wanted to go with Amy, you know," said Rory, pushing the pram along.

"Really? Why didn't you say so?"

"I tried! How am I supposed to get brave if you won't let me get a word in?"

The Doctor shrugged. "It's never been a problem before. Anyway, new team: the Doctor, Zara and Just Rory!"

"Just Rory!," said Zara.

"It's Rory, not just Rory," he muttered as he followed the Doctor along.

* * *

><p>Amy was still nervous around Donna. She knew she didn't have any reason to be, she didn't seem like an axe murderer, but she was testy and she seemed to be studying Amy every second as if she was looking for something. Then again, Amy reckoned she might be a bit testy if she were over seven months pregnant and travelling in a blue police box all across time and space.<p>

"So," said Donna, "Rory, how long have you two known each other?"

"Oh, since I moved from Scotland. He's like a brother to me. First day in school I got the desk next to him."

"Together ever since?," asked Donna.

"Best mates," said Amy.

"That all?"

"Yeah, just mates. You didn't think, me and Rory? No, that's crazy."

Donna shook her head. "I don't know."

"Besides, I'm sort of seeing this guy, Jeff. We're not exclusive or anything, sort of on a break," Amy finished quickly. "Anyway, where's this shop?"

Donna checked her phone again, "Just up there."

Amy followed Donna into the shop, where Donna began chucking various things into a trolley. She paused at the produce department.

"It seems like a banana," mused Donna, "but it's orange. Ever heard of an orange banana? Think it tastes the same?"

"Not a clue," said Amy.

"Well," said Donna, putting several bunches in the trolley, "suppose we're going to find out. Now, tell me if you spot something that looks like a Jelly Baby..."

Amy looked around for the Jelly Babies of the future only to see that everyone was watching them and whispering to one another.

"Donna, do you normally get everyone looking at you when you go shopping in alien grocery stores?"

Donna looked up from a selection of blue potatoes. Damned if they weren't. That was just bloody brilliant.

"Sorry, is there a problem?," Donna asked loudly.

That just made them murmur more.

"What? Something to stare at here? Pregnant lady getting some groceries? Got a problem with that?"

A clerk shook her head. "You ought to be ashamed. Out in the open. The pair of you."

"What?," asked Amy.

"Not a couple," said Donna. It had been a while since she had to use that line...

"I don't care what you are," sneered the woman, "I'll have the law on you."

"The law? Go ahead and call the law."

And the next thing Amy knew they were being hauled off by this planet's version of the police, while Donna shouted at them.

"Oh! Who the hell do you think you are? Big, bad outer space coppers? See if I care! You have no idea who you're dealing with! I'm going to rip your eyeballs out and then I'll make you pay!"

They were tossed in the back of a police van and the doors slammed shut. Amy looked at Donna.

"Does this sort of thing happen often?," she asked.

"Oh, yeah, all the time," said Donna. She banged on the wall separating them from the driver. "Doesn't mean I like it, though!"

* * *

><p>The Doctor had led Rory to some sort of tented alien electronics market, through the calling vendors to the one the Doctor was looking for, it seemed as if they had been there ages and Zara had already eaten the yogurt melts. Rory stood behind the pram and pushed it back and forth trying to entertain her while the Doctor examined whatever part he was looking at with a magnifying glass.<p>

"She doesn't like that," said the Doctor.

"What?"

"The pushing the pram back and forth, she doesn't care for it, would rather you just push her somewhere or leave her alone." He looked at the vendor. "What's the origin on this? How many miles?"

"Just fifteen million."

The Doctor scoffed. "Have you got a warranty card on that?"

"Right here, sir," the vendor pulled it out.

The Doctor guffawed. "Oh! Expect me to believe that, do you? I know a psychic warranty card when I see it!"

"Psychic warranty card?," asked Rory.

"You calling me a liar?," asked the man.

"Are you calling me an idiot? Look, I'm willing to take it, I just want to know the real mileage! Come on!" He looked at Rory. "Zara's hat is making her hot. And it's itchy."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do, would you take it off her?" He turned back to the vendor. "Now, how many million? Or is it billion?"

The vendor just pointed at the pram. "What is that?"

The Doctor looked back as Rory held Zara's hat.

"What do you mean what's that? The pram? The hat? Pooh Bear? Never heard of Pooh Bear? Lives in the Hundred Acre Wood? Likes honey? Friends with Tigger?"

"Tigger!," shouted Zara.

"Oh, Zara, do I have to do it now?"

"Tigger!"

"Alright," the Doctor sighed and began to sing, much to Rory's bewilderment: " _The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers are wonderful things! Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs! They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one!_"

Zara clapped and giggled and the Doctor gave her a little bow. He turned back to the vendor. "Now, there, where were we?"

"The ginger!"

The Doctor looked back at Zara. "Zara? What about her?"

"There are laws, you know," said the vendor.

"Laws? What laws? There are laws about gingers?"

"You have to turn over all gingers to the law."

The Doctor snorted. "That's my daughter, over my dead body I'm turning her over."

"The law doesn't care," said the vendor. "Even children."

"Like I care," said the Doctor. "Look, do you want to sell me that heap of junk or not? I guarantee you'll not find another buyer for that part."

The vendor looked uncertain.

"What? Because I have a ginger baby?"

Rory looked around to see everyone was staring at the ginger baby in the pink pram.

"Fine," said the Doctor. "I didn't want that rubbish anyway. Rory, Zara, allons-y."

"Doctor, what about Amy and Donna?"

"Oh, blimey..." said the Doctor, looking around. He moved protectively in front of the pram.

Rory looked up to see the Doctor evaluating what appeared to be an angry mob of shoppers and vendors surrounding them.

"What do we do now?," asked Rory.

"Well..." the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the stall of computer hardware across the aisle. It sparked and started catching fire on the tent. The crowd screamed.

"Run!," the Doctor shouted.

They were able to disappear inside the panicking crowd back to the TARDIS. The Doctor rushed Rory inside and took out his mobile.

"Pick up, Donna," he muttered. "Pick up."

"What's happening?," asked Rory. "Are they not answering?"

"Not as such, no..." said the Doctor.

"Are they safe? Tell me they're safe!"

"Okay, they're safe."

Rory frowned. "You're just saying that, aren't you?"

The Doctor nodded. "Pretty much, yeah..."


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: I do not own the Doctor, Donna, Amy or Rory or any gingers. My dog is kind of ginger, but I don't think she would like being owned. Thanks for the reads and the reviews, hope you like this one and please let me know what you think.

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><p>Donna and Amy sat in the back of the van for what seemed like forever until the van doors finally opened. A group of goggled policewomen forced them out and took them to what looked like a queue for some kind of inspection and everyone in the queue was...<p>

"They're all ginger," said Amy.

"What?," asked Donna. She tried to peer around the curve of the queue and saw that in fact, they were all ginger, women and children. She looked across the way to what seemed to be a nicer portion of the room, where non-Ginger women waited in a queue holding infants and small children. She watched in shock as they appeared to hand them over to some other policewomen as they took down the details. The mothers for the most part ignored their children's cries and walked away. One woman did go back and the guards cruelly shoved her away and dragged her out of the room kicking.

Donna couldn't decided whether to be sick or furious. She was reminded of her own incident with Major Ellis and later Agent Johnson. She would never have just handed Zara over to them. No. No way in hell.

"We're here because we're ginger?," Donna mused out loud. It sounded so impossible. Ridiculous, like some kind of satire.

"But why?," asked Amy. "What do they do with gingers?"

Donna had been travelling long enough with the Doctor to be fairly certain she didn't want to know.

Back on the TARDIS, Rory watched in bewilderment as the Doctor bounced around the console room as he gave Zara a bottle.

"Gingers all about the gingers..." he mused. "Why the gingers, though? What did they ever do to anyone? What is a ginger anyway?"

"A person with red hair?"

"Yes! But why?" He shifted Zara to his other side as she took a breath from her bottle. "Comes from the pigment pheomelanin due to a recessive variant gene on chromosome 16, at least in humans."

"Um, Doctor, do you have a way of getting them back?"

"Like what?"

"Is there an embassy or something we can go to?"

"Embassy of what? Embassy of the past? This is a human colony in the year 8142."

"It's 8142? And they hate Gingers?"

"Why's that so surprising?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know. You would think the human race would get over it."

"You lot always need something to argue over..." the Doctor said. "Funny thing is, though, in this environment it would be beneficial to be ginger in order to better absorb more sunlight."

"But how do we get them back?," asked Rory

"The law..." the Doctor put Zara down in the baby seat and stepped out of the TARDIS, Rory hot on his heels.

"Excuse me!," the Doctor shouted at the first person he saw, a women leading her two children along by the hand. "Where do I go to report gingers?"

The woman gave him a quizzical look that the Doctor could barely make out behind her goggles. "Are you certain they're ginger?"

The Doctor nodded. "Oh yes, hair like a tomato."

"A tomato?"

"Never mind, where do I go?"

"The hotline? The website? You could just text."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, I like to do things in person."

"There's the Ginger Processing Center, I suppose," she said.

"Ginger Processing Center?," exclaimed Rory.

The Doctor ignored him. "And just where would I find that?"

"Three circuits over," she said. She shook her head. "How can you see them?"

"What?"

"The gingers. How can you see them without your lenses?"

"The lenses..." he said. "Oh, yeah, lost them. Thanks for your help. See you."

The Doctor ran back in the TARDIS, again followed by Rory.

"What do we do?," asked Rory.

"We turn in a ginger."

"Who? Zara?"

The Doctor's face dropped. "We're not turning in Zara! Are you completely mad? Forget not wandering off, the new rule number one is we don't turn in Zara! Stop being crazy!" He paused, suddenly taken aback by himself. "That's funny, that's usually what people say to me. Anyway, no. Donna would murder me and she can fly the TARDIS so she wouldn't even have to wait until we got home. No, I have someone else in mind."

* * *

><p>Amy and Donna were nearing the front of the queue. Some sort of clerk sat at a desk, taking information.<p>

Donna felt the baby stirring inside of her. She was trying to stay calm, but it didn't seem to be helping. She supposed the new baby was no fool: she knew if she didn't hear her mother shouting and her father spouting nonsense back there must be a problem.

It's alright, she tried to send thoughts down, but she didn't entirely have the hang of it, we'll get out of here, I promise. Donna was grateful Zara wasn't there and thought she must be safe with the Doctor.

"Next," said the clerk and it was Donna's turn to step forward.

The clerk looked at her in dismay. "A breeder."

"A what?," she spat.

"Ginger breeding laws," the woman said from behind her goggles. "You must be aware of them. Won't help your case for relocation."

"Relocation? This is ridiculous! I was just trying to buy food! You all didn't even have the right color bananas!"

"You can buy all the food you want. In the Red Zone."

"The Red Zone? Are you kidding me? I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here until my husband finds me and he- well, I don't know exactly what he's going to do, but it'll be good!"

"Your husband will be in the male section. You'll see him at the Red Zone."

"He's not a ginger."

She looked up in shock. "Not a ginger? He'll be at the re-education facility I suppose."

Donna threw her head back, then thought of something. "Okay, I hate to ask for favors like this, but I'm Donna Noble."

It clearly wasn't ringing a bell for the clerk.

"Uh, Donna Noble. The Doctor-Donna? Saved reality from the Daleks?"

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"No, I'm not. I nearly had my head explode doing it and now I would like to call in the marker."

"You saved reality?," asked Amy.

"Oh, yeah, all the universes. Don't need thanks, I just want out of here."

"Get in the transportation queue," instructed the clerk as she handed Donna a numbered slip.

Amy walked forward. She kept her interaction brief in an effort to quickly rejoin Donna. The Doctor was definitely coming for her and she didn't want to get left behind.

She rushed to another queue, her pace a surprise to everyone to find Donna. It wasn't hard: she was the only pregnant one and Amy could only guess at what they meant by ginger breeding laws.

Donna shook her head. "Most Important Woman in the Universe? What is that? It's not like I'm asking for a free handbag, I just thought saving reality might get me out of this line."

Amy still had no idea what "saving reality" was. She decided to ignore the topic for the time being. "Where do you think they're taking us?," asked Amy.

Donna looked around at the forlorn group of gingers around them.

"Nowhere good I'm guessing."

* * *

><p>"I look ridiculous!," said Rory.<p>

The Doctor looked up from feeding Zara a jar of strained peas, luckily the baby food in jars was still good, he was having a hard enough time distracting her from Donna's absence. Rory had followed the Doctor's instructions and utilized a package of hair dye Donna had bought to conceal the grey hairs she was certain she had and the Doctor had subsequently hidden deep within the TARDIS because they didn't exist. Donna had been about to have a fit over the incident, but then they ran into a brigade of Cybermen and the issue had been tabled. It had turned out to be rather useful and now Rory stood in the kitchen with a head of deep ginger hair, rather darker than Donna's the Doctor thought, but it seemed to work on Rory.

Mostly...

It would have worked a lot better had he been going to a fancy dress party as Raggedy Andy.

"You look fine," said the Doctor. "You know, I always wanted to be ginger."

Rory gasped out of exasperation. "Then why aren't you doing this?"

"Which reason do you want? One, I'm the only one here who can pilot the TARDIS. Two, Zara won't go down for her nap unless I sing her something from The Lion King-"

"I could sing something from The Lion King!"

"Three, you don't mess with this," he said motioning at his face. "I don't think red hair would work on this regeneration. I might look ridiculous."

"Might!"

"I can't go around looking ridiculous. I have empires to topple!"

Rory sighed. "Fine. What do we do now?"

* * *

><p>Rory Williams walked into the Ginger Processing Center and walked up to the front desk clerk who stared at him in surprise.<p>

"Hi, I'm Rory... oh, and I'm ginger." He swallowed. "I'd like to be arrested now."


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna, Amy or Rory. Thanks for reading and reviewing and following. I really want to know what you think of this one and please enjoy.

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><p>Several burly guards appeared to take Rory back into the bowels of the processing center. They put him in a queue with other gingers. Rory looked around for signs of Amy and Donna, but couldn't see them. In fact, he only saw other men.<p>

"Doctor, I don't see them," he whispered into the watch the Doctor had given him.

The Doctor was at that moment in the nursery, trying to change Zara into her pajamas and discovering that Donna had much more of a knack for it as she wiggled away from him and shouted in glee. Not helping was Esther, jumping up at the Doctor's feet, encouraged by Zara's squeals of delight as she thwarted the Destroyer of Worlds.

The Doctor sighed. "Well, have they told you where you're going?"

"The Red Zone," Rory answered.

"The Red Zone... Not putting much thought into the names here, are they?" The Doctor looked up at the spare monitor that had appeared on the wall of the nursery with a map.

"There's no place designated on the map, no mention of it in the major directories..." He looked back at Zara. "Arm. Sleeve."

"What?," asked Rory.

"That wasn't for you," said the Doctor. "Look, ask around, see if anyone knows anything."

"But I don't know anyone," said Rory.

"Better make a friend, then." The Doctor looked back at Zara, still holding her top. "Zara! Sleeve!"

Zara sighed and put her right arm through the sleeve.

"Okay, now the left."

"No."

Rory sighed, listening to the struggle over the TARDIS communications link. The Doctor's attention was obviously elsewhere. He tapped the shoulder of the man in front of him.

"Hi." He swallowed, the man did not seem to appreciate being bothered. "I was just wondering if you knew what was going on!"

"I shouldn't even be here!," said the man. "I'm not ginger!"

Rory appraised the man's hair. "Well, you're sort of strawberry blond."

"Take that back!," the man snapped.

Rory threw his hands up in acquiescence.

* * *

><p>Donna and Amy were loaded with the other gingers into what appeared to be an outer space coach. There were no seats, certainly no accommodations made for personal space needs neither of which was to Donna's liking as her back, her feet, her shoulders and her boobs were all in immense pain. She and Amy found a space against one of the narrow windows and the coach set off at which time Donna discovered there apparently wasn't climate control either to combat the body heat from the people crowded inside the coach.<p>

"So..." said Amy, not knowing quite what to say.

"So..." Donna confirmed. She stood on her toes to peer out the narrow window. It was night. The landscape in front of them was barren. A distant mountain was the only feature.

"The Doctor will come, right?," asked Amy. "I know it's a stupid question, you're his wife, of course he's coming. But I wouldn't mind a little reassurance right about now."

"He'll come if he knows what's good for him," said Donna.

Amy smiled. She was really starting to admire the way Donna kept the Doctor in line. "Was it love at first sight?," asked Amy.

Donna snorted. "No! What would make you say that?"

Amy shrugged. "I don't know. It's just the way he looks at you, it's so obvious he's crazy about you."

"What? Really?"

"Yeah," said Amy, "it's so obvious I can't believe it wasn't."

"Well," Donna said softening, "it wasn't. When I met him, I was actually going to marry someone else."

"Really?" Amy lit up. "So, what? You ran off with him before the wedding?"

"No, his ship kidnapped me."

"How does a ship kidnap you?"

Donna shook her head. "My fiance was planning to feed me to a giant spider, there were these Huon particles and they magnetized..."

"Giant spider?"

"Remember the Christmas star in London that started shooting at people?"

"That was you two?," exclaimed Amy. "So, have you been together ever since?"

"No," said Donna, "we were just friends for a long time."

"Just friends," said Amy, sounding amused.

"Just friends." Donna parroted back, pretty amused herself.

* * *

><p>Back on the TARDIS, Zara was trying the Doctor's patience. He would put her down to go to sleep, then go back to the console room to await news from Rory and he would look down to find her.<p>

"Mummy," she said.

"Yes, I know, Mummy will be back soon, but for right now Zara needs to go to bed."

"No. Mummy."

"Zara. Bed."

"Story."

"I gave you a story! I gave you six!," he said in exasperation.

"Mummy story!"

"Doctor?" Rory's voice crackled as it came over the TARDIS speakers.

"Rory!," exclaimed the Doctor. "Where are you? Are you still in the processing center?"

"No, I'm on a coach or something. They're taking us to the Red Zone now. Nobody seems to know much about it."

"Any sign of Donna?"

"No, no sign of Amy, either."

"Oh, right, Amy. I meant her."

"Yeah, sure you did."

The Doctor looked at the TARDIS monitor as Zara hung off his leg. "I'm tracking you further north, I can't see a settlement or anything."

"What does that mean?," asked Rory. "Where are they taking us? Nowhere? That doesn't sound good."

"Look, I'll see if I can enhance the scans to read for humanoid life signs. Get back to me when you know more."

"Doctor?," asked Rory. "Doctor, don't-"

The Doctor looked down, Zara was now sitting on his foot, her arms and legs around his leg.

"Zara..." he said. "Zara, Daddy has to enhance the TARDIS scanners."

"Mummy."

He looked back down at her. The look in her eye was determined. The Doctor knew he had no hope of fighting it. "You're not going to sleep until you collapse or your mother puts you to bed, are you?"

"Mummy."

* * *

><p>The coach drove far into the night until it finally stopped. It was dark and cold and Donna and Amy couldn't make out any of what was around them, just a light flashing on that distant mountain. They were off-loaded and started walking further into the darkness.<p>

"Oh, this is brilliant," said Donna, "taken in the middle of the night to nowhere!"

"Are you alright, Donna?"

"Of course I'm alright! I'm seven months pregnant, I've been standing in a coach for hours, it's bloody freezing, I haven't eaten in hours and my stupid Martian husband is nowhere because we are in the middle of bloody nowhere!"

Amy looked at her in concern. "Donna, you're shaking and you're sweating. Didn't you just say you were freezing?"

Donna put her head in her hand. "Sorry, I didn't eat enough... I... Time Babies... If I don't eat enough, my blood sugar drops and I become a total bitch."

"It's alright, Donna. Let's just walk a little farther with the others and I'll see if I can find some food." She took Donna under one arm. "We'll just walk a little bit farther, yeah?"

They walked with the others for ten more minutes and Amy was relieved to see a collection of tents, lit by the tiniest bit of dawn light. Wherever they were going, must not have been far. She wasn't relieved to see another queue and another clerk. She looked around anxiously for some sense of what was happening.

Neither was Donna. She groaned. "Look, would you go see if they're going to kill us? And if they are, I would just as soon sit."

"Here, let me help you," said Amy. She eased Donna onto the ground. "Wait right here, I'll see what's going on."

Amy made her way to the front of the line.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?," shouted the woman in front.

"I just need help," said Amy. "My friend is at the back of the queue and she's ill. She needs to eat."

"Well, she can wait like the rest of us!"

Amy turned to the woman and stiffened. "Relax, would you? I'm not trying to cut the queue! My friend is really, really sick, she's pregnant and she hasn't eaten in hours!"

"Pregnant?," asked the clerk. Her interest seemed piqued. "Has the baby had the ginger screening test yet?"

It was then that Amy noticed the clerk here was ginger and she wasn't wearing any goggles like the people back in the town. She took the chance of assuming that here for some reason it was good to be ginger. The clerk was clearly hanging on her response.

"Yeah, totally ginger," she said, lying. Well, maybe lying. The Doctor was so terribly keen on Ginger Time Babies. Maybe he already knew he was having another.

The clerk motioned to some guards standing nearby and Amy could see by the portable lamps they were also ginger. The clerk instructed Amy to show them where and she led them back.

Donna was laying on the ground, much to Amy's distress.

"Donna! Donna! Wake up!," shouted Amy.

One of the guards lifted Donna up as if she were nothing. "We'll take her to the hospital."

"Well, I'll come with you."

"No, patients only."

Amy struggled. "Uh, I'm her sister! Can't I come with?"

"Sorry, miss. No exceptions."

They carried Donna away and the other guard positioned Amy at the back of the queue.

* * *

><p>Donna Noble had alwyas had an active imagination. It seemed to her that motherhood had only amplified the effects of her imagination. She supposed it was some sort of evolutionary response: Mother Nature encouraging her to imagine all the possible ways that her young would encounter danger. She had once wondered if mother does imagined their fawns happening to skip into a meadow under the eye of a brutal hunter. Or perhaps that was just the time she had insisted the Doctor watch Bambi, followed by his protestations of "No, Donna, my eyes don't look like that at all!" Since the first moment she had realized she was pregnant with Zara she had imagined more and more elaborate scenarios with someone after the last of the Time Babies. Even when she had thought she was just human during her recovery from the metacrisis, she hadn't let strangers get too close and slapped the hand of anyone wanting to feel the baby kick. Back to knowing she was pregnant with a Time Baby this go, she had laid awake at night mentally making a list of scenarios that would be bad.<p>

Waking up in an alien hospital was definitely one of them. Almost to the top. Right there with Dalek kidnappers.

The last thing Donna could remember was sitting on that cold ground, waiting for Amy and thinking about how nice it would be to close her eyes. Now she was hooked up to some sort of IV, she had a hospital bracelet complete with her name and she was on an assortment of monitors. The room was nicely decorated in cool colors and Donna noticed the curious inclusion of a matted watercolor of a ginger mother and child on the wall.

"Oh, God," said Donna. She bolted up only to find she was in a hospital gown, no better in an alien hospital than a human one. She got up and started searching for where her clothes might be. She turned, startled as she realized there was a nurse in the room. A ginger one with a friendly freckled face.

"Hi, I'm Sandra," said the nurse. "Donna, isn't it?"

Donna nodded. "My friend. Where is she?"

"I don't know, but we can't allow visitors in the facility. Overcrowding. We have to keep it just for the truly needy."

"Well, I'm not sick," said Donna. "I'm fine."

"Your blood sugar was dangerously low! Lowest I've ever seen, actually, didn't your physician warn you about your condition?"

"She did and she's sort of far off," Donna said thinking of Martha. "My husband has been looking after me."

Sandra nodded. "I understand. I remember what it was like before I came here, living in fear, having to hide all the time. We'll soon have you sorted as soon as Doctor Finley gets here."

Donna shook her head. "No, I'm fine. I have to get home."

"You can't go home, though. All the way back in the town?"

"Listen, lady, I have a husband and a baby and I need to get back to them." She started at the IV and Sandra walked over to stop her from taking it out.

"You're not ready to go anywhere," she said. "You need to lay back down and I'll bring you something to eat."

Donna was feeling a little shaky. The baby was practically screaming at her to eat something. Donna nodded wearily and went back to bed.

"Stupid Martian," she muttered to herself as she started falling back asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna, Amy or Rory. Thanks for reading and reviewing and following. Enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think.

* * *

><p>Amy was panicked. She wasn't entirely sure what her duties as a "companion" of the Doctor were, and what was with that word, anyway? It sounded so dodgy. Amy was sure that she wasn't supposed to let anything happen to Donna. It had just happened too quickly and they took Donna to the hospital, then made Amy get back in the queue. It was the strangest thing when she finally arrived back at the front of it: the questions were all about how ginger she was. Were her parents ginger? Did she have any ginger siblings? Her ginger-ness was then rated on a scale of one to ten. She apparently scored a nine due to her lack of visible freckling, she tried explaining that her mother was very careful with the sunscreen while she was growing up, but they simply gave her a brochure about ginger self-hatred and the day and time of a support group.<p>

Amy went past the tents, expecting to see something like one of the refuguee camps she saw on television, like in the Gaza Strip or Sudan, but the tents were merely the entry point to a fully fledged city. Probably to keep the gingers protected on bright days, she supposed. There was every kind of shop and business and most of the population seemed to carry umbrellas to shield them from the weak sun. She asked directions to the hospital from a nearby hat vendor and headed off in that direction after refusing several sales pitches.

She arrived at the hospital, but they explained to her that she wouldn't be let in.

"Amy!"

Amy turned.

"Rory!"

She ran towards him, completely ecstatic to see him. She threw her arms around him and hugged him.

"Where's the Doctor?," she asked.

Rory's face sank. "Oh, nice to see you, too."

"I need the Doctor. They've taken Donna, I haven't seen her, I don't know what to do."

Rory paused and Amy gave him a quizzical look.

"What are you-"

"Sorry, I've got the Doctor in my ear." He paused. "Hold on."

Rory pulled out what looked like a glow stick and broke it in half. Suddenly, the TARDIS appeared in front of them and the door swung open. Amy looked around, surprised that no one noticed as the Doctor stepped out of the blue police box wearing a Snugli.

The Time Lord with the Snugli.

"You were worried about looking ridiculous as a ginger and you're wearing a Snugli?," asked Rory.

"Look, this is the only way she would fall asleep and when you have a ginger Time Baby you can tell me how easy it is!"

"Are you alright, Doctor?," asked Amy.

"No." He sighed, exhausted and ran his fingers through his hair. "Where's Donna? I want to find her and get out of here."

"She's in hospital," said Amy.

The Doctor's face dropped. "What?"

Amy cringed. "They said her blood sugar was too low or something, she passed out, I've been trying to get in there, but it's for the sick only. No visitors."

"Okay, I know it's our first trip and all, but no letting some alien hospital have Donna particularly while she's carrying a Ginger Time Baby!"

"Well, how are they going to figure out it's a Time Baby? You look human," said Amy.

"No, you look Time Lord. Besides that, she's got two hearts!"

"You have two hearts?," asked Rory.

"Do you think I just say I'm an alien for fun?"

Rory shrugged. "I don't know! You're my first alien!"

"Unstrap me," said the Doctor.

"What?," asked Rory.

"Help me get the carrier off," he said.

Rory helped the Doctor get the Snugli off.

"Amy, you're in charge of Zara," said the Doctor. "Don't wander off, don't get captured, first sign of trouble, back in the TARDIS."

Amy nodded as Rory helped her get the Snugli on. "Back in the box. Got it."

"What are you going to do?," asked Rory.

"Well, we are going to go get Donna."

* * *

><p>Donna finally awoke again with Sandra watching as a strange doctor ran a some kind of sensor over her stomach.<p>

"What are you doing?" Donna slapped the sensor away and protectively crossed her arms over her belly.

"This is Dr. Finley, Donna."

"I'm fine," said Donna. "Really."

"Two heartbeats," said Dr. Finley.

Donna froze, not knowing what to do next. Dr. Finley narrowed his gaze at Donna.

"Didn't your physician tell you that you were having twins?"

"Well, of course she did," said Donna, eager to jump on the presented scenario. "Don't see why I need another scan, considering I didn't give you permission." She scooted further back up the bed, wanting to distance herself.

"You have nothing to fear," Dr. Finley said in a way that made Donna certain that she had something to fear. "You'll be safe here. Be sure to maintain your caloric intake. We want mother and babies nice and strong."

The creepy ginger doctor left. Sandra eyed Donna's half-demolished tray. "Didn't like the pears, I see?"

Donna shook her head. "I don't have a problem, she- they do," Donna said motioning at her stomach. She glanced over at the wheelchair. "What's that for?"

"There's an informational seminar with the other mothers on the ward."

"What? Lamaze or something? This is not my first and the bloody video was no preparation for trying to squeeze something akin to a small giraffe out of my vagina. Suppose that's what I get for marrying a man who's all limbs."

"No, nothing like that," Sandra smiled. "Come on."

Donna did as the nurse said and got in the wheelchair, finding herself still a little shaky. Sandra pushed her down the hall to a room full of other pregnant gingers, lined with posters of happy ginger babies. Donna realized then she hadn't seen anyone but gingers since arriving here. One part of the planet with no gingers, one part with nothing but?

"This is Donna, everyone, she's just arrived," said Sandra.

Everyone said hello and Sandra wheeled Donna next to another woman.

"Hi, Trudy," said the woman next to her.

"Hi," said Donna.

"Just got here?"

"Yeah."

"I've been here ten years me, been with the breeding program that whole time."

Donna's eyes widened. "Breeding program?" What the hell did these people think she was going to do?

"Have you had the ginger gene screening yet?," she asked.

"No," said Donna. "My other one is ginger, though."

Trudy nodded. "That's good."

"I'm sorry, what do you mean breeding program?"

"Oh, we just carry and give birth to children that have been genetically screened for the ginger gene. We're practically endangered, you know."

"Yeah..." said Donna. "I'm already sort of involved in my own endangered species breeding program, I really don't think I have time for another one."

Trudy chuckled. "Oh, you're a funny one, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I'm hilarious."

Another ginger entered, Donna supposed it was the instructor. She stood behind the podium and started.

"Now, I understand we have some new additions to our group so we'll be watching the introductory video again." She pressed a remote and started a screen.

"PLANET OF THE GINGERS" came across the screen in a huge font. Donna tried not to groan out loud as Trudy and some of the other apparent veterans seemed entranced.

A ginger haired presenter came onscreen. "Hello. I'm ginger and if you're watching this, so are you."

Donna rolled her eyes.

"For your life you have been ostracized, cast aside, made the freaks of society, but let me tell you about some of the great gingers in history..."

Donna couldn't believe it. Was she watching a ginger propaganda video?

"Queen Elizabeth I, Winston Churchill, Nicole Kidman, Vincent Van Gogh, Ron Howard, Ginger Spice, Matt Bonner, Prince Harry..."

Donna had thought it was ridiculous when she was arrested and sent off for being ginger. She didn't think it was much better being pampered and pandered to because she was ginger.

"Now, let me tell you about the ginger breeding program," said the presenter.

Donna snorted quietly. The last time someone had offered to tell her about a breeding program, it started a three hour lecture on the potential interaction between Human and Time Lord gametes, then led to the Doctor trying to do some kind of Punnett Square to calculate the odds of having a Ginger Time Baby, only stopping when Donna informed the Doctor that no, she did not know what hair color Wilf's maternal great grandmother had! She thought she had silenced him on the subject, but then he remembered he had a Time Machine and could go back and check himself. What luck! Hours had finally passed and the Doctor had managed to travel back to 1789 when Donna snapped and said that chances of having a Ginger Time Baby would be greatly improved by actually trying to make one instead of doing a genetic survey through time!

"The embryos you carry are specially selected for the best ginger qualities, hair color, freckles, health, intelligence..."

The presenter droned on for what seemed like an eternity to Donna until the film finally ended and the woman running the seminar asked if there were any questions.

"Um, sorry, why do we need ginger embryos implanted in us?," asked Donna.

"To ensure ginger-ness. The ginger gene is double-"

"Double recessive. Yeah, I've heard."

"So, we wouldn't want our breeders to waste their time with non-ginger babies. You're all much too valuable for that."

"What's wrong with non-ginger babies?"

The woman looked like she had never heard the question before. "Well, they're not ginger."

"And that's a crime?"

"It's not a crime. It's just not desired."

"Donna, when there are people who aren't like us, they always mock us. Haven't you been called names for being ginger?"

"Well, yeah-"

"And you have another baby, don't you? Hasn't she been called names for being ginger?"

"Well, yeah, but it's not my main concern," said Donna in all honesty.

* * *

><p>Donna's main concern, the idiot alien she had married was sneaking into the hospital through the rear tunnel. Rory was ahead of him, surveying the layout.<p>

Then the Doctor got distracted. He entered a room, full of blinking lights and shiny machines. Rory had no idea what it could be and it didn't really seem like a good idea to be wandering around.

"Ooh! Genetics laboratory! I love a good genetics laboratory!" He looked around and used the sonic screwdriver on the computers.

"What do they need a genetics lab for?," asked Rory.

"No idea," he looked further. "So many samples. And they're rating them. Rory, why don't you go ask what they do here?"

"Me? Why me?"

"Do I have to constantly explain myself? Go investigate, be brave! Meet you back at the TARDIS, I have to go get Donna."

"If they have some giant plan, what makes you think they're going to tell me anything?"

The Doctor looked back at the sonic screwdriver. "And find out where they're uploading all of this data to. It's like some spyware or something."

Before Rory could protest further, the Doctor was gone.

* * *

><p>Amy asked around and discovered that there was a grocery shop, not far from where the TARDIS was parked. Seeing as how they still had a food problem, she headed there with Zara and started shopping.<p>

It took a while to get through the store as Amy was constantly stopped by people interested in Zara. It made her uneasy, but they were saying such nice things like how beautiful Zara was and what perfect ginger hair she had.

Amy was at the checkout with some of the credits she had been given at the entrance to the city and the cashier couldn't help but coo over Zara.

"You know, you really ought to buy some of our Ginger-Vite if you want to keep her hair that color," said the woman.

Amy nodded. "I'll keep it in mind."

"Zara ginger!," said Zara.

"Oh, how clever is she?," said the cashier. "How old is she?"

"One, she just had her birthday," said Amy.

"Oh, is she from the breeding program? They're getting better and better!"

Amy nodded. "They sure are." She looked at the assortment of sundries by the check stand. One was a children's book called "Planet of the Gingers." Amy picked it up.

"Book!," said Zara.

Amy added it to the groceries. "Let me get this."

"It's free," said the woman. "Have to educate the younger generation, you know. I read it to my little ones every night."

Amy nodded, but suddenly there was a white light that seemed to be scanning through the store. Zara covered her eyes.

"Oh, peekaboo!," said the cashier playfully.

"What's that?," asked Amy, motioning at the light.

"What's what?," asked the cashier.

"That great big white light? Don't you see it?"

The cashier shrugged. "No."

The light was right on her. Amy paid and took her carrier bags, trying to follow the light, but it was receding into that one lonely mountain that had marked the path to the city.

"Okay, Zara," said Amy, "back in the box."

* * *

><p>The seminar finished after what seemed like ages to Donna. Suddenly the Doctor's rambling wouldn't seem so long-winded anymore. Donna got back up in her bed and Sandra left. She looked up to see the Doctor.<p>

"Where the hell have you been?," she hissed. "Is Zara alright?"

"She's fine, Amy has her."

"It is completely barmy in here," said Donna. "Everyone is ginger. I just watched a ginger propaganda film! I'm supposed to join a breeding program or something! Why are you bleeping me?"

"You were ill..." said the Doctor. He looked at the readings on the sonic screwdriver.

"I know, I didn't get anything to eat and your ginger Time Baby likes to suck the life force right out of me. Just find my clothes and get me to Zara, my breasts are completely engorged. It's a wonder they haven't burst out and hit someone in the face!"

The Doctor seemed distracted. "What did you do with your clothes!"

"I don't know, just get me out of here. I'm in a hospital gown!"

The Doctor took off his coat and gave it to Donna.

"Why are you wearing a TARDIS key around your neck?," asked Donna.

"Perception filter, I had to do something to keep people from noticing I wasn't ginger."

"Oh, key around your neck! Great disguise! You couldn't just dye your hair."

He was going to explain about how the perception filter worked but got sidetracked by the hair issue. "No, of course not, I'd look ridiculous."

"You're so vain."

"You know, that song's about me."

"Of course it is," said Donna in disgust.

Just then, a light gleamed into the window and then receded. The Doctor and Donna looked at each other.

"Get me out of here, spaceman," said Donna.

* * *

><p>Rory went from the lab to the next room. It seemed to be some sort of cold storage. Further down the corridor, he found a waiting room full of burly ginger men.<p>

"Sorry, new here," said Rory, "I was looking for the canteen?"

One man scoffed. "You're in the wrong place, mate."

"I can see that. What place would this be?"

"The waiting room."

"The waiting room for what?," Rory asked, desperate to draw out an answer.

"The sample giving? You know..." the man leaned in quietly. "The genetic samples..."

Understanding dawned over Rory. "Oh, right."

The man winked and smiled. "Gotta build the new master race, you know. Planet of the Gingers and all that."

"Right! Planet of the Gingers!," echoed Rory.

The man's neighbor joined in. "I can't wait to get a piece of those brown and blond scalps!"

"Right, so total all out war with the other non-Gingers? Okay then. Looking forward to that as well, can't wait."

"Damn right, mate!"

"Well, good luck with that. I'm off to the canteen then," said Rory, eager to leave.

Rory turned around to face the tallest ginger he had ever seen.

"Your roots are brown," was all he said.

Rory turned back around to face the rest of the waiting room.

Who were now pointing guns at him.

"Oh, are we are going to go kill those blond and brown scalps now?," asked Rory.

"Just one," said the man who had just a moment ago been Rory's best mate in the room.

Rory nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

* * *

><p>The Doctor led Donna back in the TARDIS and shut the door. Esther jumped up to greet her, Donna looked around the otherwise empty room.<p>

"Where's Zara?"

"I told you, Amy has her."

"And where is Amy?"

As if on cue, Amy entered carrying Zara on the Snugli with some carrier bags. Zara was munching on a half of one of the orange bananas.

"Mummy!"

"Zara!"

Donna took Zara out of the Snugli. Amy breathed a sigh of relief and unstrapped herself.

"I just got some tins and packets and things. I hope that's alright."

"Anything I don't have to watch a propaganda film to get will be wonderful." She looked at Zara. "You had better be thirsty."

"Did you see the light?," asked Amy.

"Yeah, some kind of sensor. That was weird," said the Doctor.

Donna scoffed. "Not the weirdest thing on this stupid planet. Come on, Zara. I can tell you about Matt Bonner and his contributions to human civilization..."

Donna disappeared with Zara into the depths of the TARDIS, Esther trailing behind them.

"The light came from that mountain," said Amy.

"What mountain?"

"You know, the only mountain."

The Doctor looked at the map on the TARDIS monitor. "No mountain."

"Well, look out the door," said Amy.

The Doctor walked over and opened the TARDIS door. There was indeed a mountain.

"It's not on the map or the sensors. How does it do that?"

"Doctor, where's Rory?"

"What? Isn't he back?"

"No," said Amy.

The Doctor groaned. "Why does this always happen?"


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: I do not own the Doctor, Donna, Amy or Rory. Sorry for not updating in a week, I've had migraines and am trying to catch up. Thanks for the reads and reviews. Enjoy and please let me know what you think of this one!

* * *

><p>Donna nursed Zara much to her own relief and gave her another bit of banana. Then she realized what had happened when the little girl started bouncing around.<p>

Zara had not been to bed.

When the Doctor entered the nursery to find Zara standing in her cot and singing nothing in particular and Donna sitting in the rocking chair looking cross, he knew she knew what had happened.

"You didn't put her to bed properly."

"She- she fell asleep in the Snugli for a few minutes."

"We have a bedtime for a reason."

"She wouldn't go to sleep."

"She's one! You're nine hundred and nine! Which one of you do you suppose is the adult? You know if she doesn't go to sleep properly she has some sort of Time Lord battery kick in and doesn't stop!"

"No sleep!," shouted Zara.

"Well..."

"No sleep!," said Zara bouncing in the cot.

Donna stood and picked her up before she broke something. "Now I have to get her to run around until she collapses!"

"Well..."

"Well what?"

"Did you happen to notice the giant mountain?"

"Yes," Donna said with exasperation.

"Amy and I are going to go investigate it. Also, Rory's missing."

"Why can't you keep track of people?"

* * *

><p>The Doctor materialized the TARDIS inside the mountain, which was the first clue.<p>

"Really shouldn't have been able to do that," said the Doctor as they stepped out into a tunnel.

"Doctor, what about Rory?"

"Amy, Amy, Amy! Rory, Rory, Rory! What is it with you two?"

Amy froze. "He's just my best mate, that's all."

"Yeah, heard that one before," said the Doctor as he ventured further into the tunnel.

"No, see, I have a boyfriend, well, mostly. His name is Jeff."

"Jeff!," exclaimed the Doctor. "You were about to go out with Jack, this is the first I'm hearing of Jeff!"

Amy shrugged. "We're not exclusive. What? You've never had an open relationship?"

"Have you met Donna? There's a woman out there who I've only met once in my time stream that called me pretty boy and I haven't heard the end of it. I still haven't heard the beginning of it! What is that humming?"

The Doctor followed the noise, Amy was quickly behind him.

Amy looked around. "If this is a cave or a tunnel in a mountain, why is it all metal?." asked Amy.

"Good question, the answer is because this isn't a mountain..."

"But we saw it. It's a mountain."

The humming grew so that Amy could hear it and it led to a door.

"Oh, a door," said the Doctor.

"What's a door doing in a mountain?"

The Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to open the door. They walked through, revealing a room full of video monitors with actual live footage of both towns they had been in and graphs that seemed to go up and down.

A Silurian man turned around in his chair to face him.

"Oh, my God," said Amy.

"Amy, don't be rude."

"Sorry," she said looking at the Silurian, "you're my first alien."

"Well, one, I'm your first alien," said the Doctor, "I suppose that makes Zara your second and he would be third, but he's not an alien, not from your point of view anyway. He's a Silurian. They're from the Earth. They went underground when they thought the moon was going to crash into the planet."

Amy's eyes were huge. "There are lizard people living under the Earth?"

"Silurian." The Doctor turned back. "Hello. I'm the Doctor. This is Amy Pond. Funny thing, we noticed this mountain doesn't actually exist."

"Who are you?," asked the Silurian.

"Just told you. I'm the Doctor."

An Indian woman and a blond man entered.

"Divya, Eric," the Silurian just motioned at the Doctor and Amy, flabbergasted.

"Visitors?," asked Divya. "Are you from the university ethics committee?"

"Yes! That's us!" The Doctor flashed his psychic paper on them. "Ethics committee, here to do ethics! Right, Amy?"

"Yeah. Yea for ethics!," said Amy.

The Doctor walked over.

"Well, this is the main observation room," said Eric, "where we follow major trends."

"Oh, yes, very good, look at those major trends," said the Doctor.

"Yeah, they're great."

"Now, just for my report," said the Doctor, "maybe you could give me a little background on the- what do you call it?"

"The experiment?," asked Divya.

"Yes, that. Wait, experiment?"

"A few hundred years ago, Professor Bancroft wanted to study the mob mentality and found that clinical settings only took her so far. So, a group of colonists agreed to come here and have their memories wiped."

"Why?," asked Amy.

"They needed a blank slate so they wouldn't try to contact the outside," explained the Silurian. "The experiment required non-interference."

"And then what?," asked the Doctor.

"The professor divided them among gingers and non-gingers," said Eric.

"You mean this was intentional?," asked Amy.

"Of course," said Divya, "they had to be divided by something. No need to take it personally."

"Over the past few hundred years, things have really progressed. Relatively recently they separated into different settlements and even passed laws against intermarriage," said Eric. "Fascinating."

"You bred them to hate each other?," said the Doctor.

"Well, for science."

"This isn't science," said Amy. "Those are real people out there. You've got them all brainwashed. They're suffering."

"That's the experiment," said the Silurian.

"And if they start killing each other?," asked the Doctor.

"That's the experiment," said Divya. "We monitor the results."

"But they wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you," said Amy.

"Their ancestors signed a waiver. They were happy to escape the silence."

"Silence? What's that?"

"You don't know?," asked the Silurian.

"Okay, here's what's happening," said the Doctor, "I'm going to stop you, no matter what so I would just suggest you get out of my way."

* * *

><p>Donna was pretty proud of the way she was outsmarting her one year old at the moment.<p>

Donna had pulled a chair into the corridor and told Zara to go for a run. Zara knew the TARDIS, but only so far as the ship made things easy for her. Zara's room always appeared next to her parents and closest to the console room. When Zara was hungry, the kitchen always appearde nearby. The ship kept away all the rooms that could get Zara into trouble, like the swimming pool. So, Donna was grateful the TARDIS seemed to follow her plan and sent Zara on a track through the corridor and back by Donna's chair every few minutes. Eventually, she would get tired. She was already starting to slow. All in all, this was some clever parenting.

Or possibly terrible parenting. Donna was really too tired at this point to tell.

Zara came around slowly. She stopped resting her hands on Donna's knee.

"What is it, Zara?," Donna asked, trying to conceal her satisfaction.

"Zara tired."

"Oh, do you want to go to bed then?"

Zara shook her head.

"So, you're tired but you don't want to go to bed?"

"No bed."

"I think you would feel better if you did."

"No bed."

"Okay, well, Mummy's going to go lay in her bed, maybe-"

"DONNA!"

Zara perked her head up. Donna groaned.

"What is it, you stupid spaceman?," she shouted.

The Doctor and Amy came out into the corridor.

"Donna, what are you doing out here?," he asked.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to run down the battery on your daughter."

"Oh. Well, anyway, this entire planet is a sociological experiment gone horribly wrong or right. I don't know. I'm not sure how it was meant to go."

"What do you mean it's a sociological experiment?," asked Donna.

"Well, they brought a bunch of people here and got them to be mean to the ginger ones," said Amy.

"We have to take down the generator to the fake mountain and reveal the truth to the planet," said the Doctor. "Come on, Amy."

They went back to the console room. Donna sighed and got up to follow them as she heard Zara's footsteps behind her.

Donna stood by the console. "What do you mean fake mountain?"

"Oh, that's where they collect all the data to send back to the university."

"There's a university? Not a mad scientist?"

"I think you're forgetting Rory! We still have to rescue him!," said Amy.

"It's like the both of you are on repeat! Okay, fine, we'll go save Rory, but first we should probably get Zara off the floor."

Donna turned around and Amy looked behind Donna. Zara was curled up in the fetal position, dead to the world, sucking on her thumb as she slept.

"Oh, thank God," said Donna.

"Now-" said the Doctor.

"Whisper!," hissed Donna. "And pick her up off the floor before she gets grating imprints on her face."

"Right," said the Doctor. "I'm just going to do that and then we'll save the planet."

* * *

><p>Rory was in a cell.<p>

That cell was surrounded by dozens of mutant ginger soldiers who he was sure would crush his skull if he tried to escape. Not that he had a plan for escaping. The other time he had been a prisoner, the Doctor had been with him and frankly, Donna had beeen the one doing the rescuing in that instance.

"Look, I'm happy to get off your planet with my offensive brown hair and leave it to the gingers or whatever. I just need to get back with my friends."

A siren went off. The soldiers started getting their guns.

"Um, sorry, what's going on?"

Another soldier rushed in.

"The mountain disappeared!"

"What do you mean disappeared?" The other soldiers clamored with similar expressions of disbelief, shock and amazement.

"It must have been the yellow and brown scalps!"

"Muster on the field!"

They all left.

Leaving Rory alone.

In his cell.

Maybe Donna would rescue him again.

* * *

><p>"Wait, what's happening?," said the Doctor.<p>

It had been a simple matter to disable the holographic generator on the mountain from inside the TARDIS, but now the Doctor was getting strange readings on the console. Something had gone wrong.

Donna looked at the TARDIS monitor. "Those dots are people, right?"

"Right."

"Why are they all moving?," asked Amy.

The Doctor quickly moved the TARDIS back to the city. He opened the door and he, Amy and Donna watched as the ginger soldiers lined up in formation as the people watched.

"That...doesn't look good."

"Fellow gingers!," shouted someone who seemed to be the general. "The brown and yellow scalps have been spying on us! This means war! Tonight we march! Tomorrow we claim our planet! Planet of the Gingers!"

The soldiers and crowd erupted in cheers and applause. Donna and amy both turned to the Doctor.

"How did that work, Time Boy?," asked Donna.

"Okay, probably should have told them the truth and then taken down the mountain in retrospect," said the Doctor.

"Oh, you think?," said Amy.

"Right, let's go rescue Rory," said the Doctor as he shut the TARDIS door.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Doctor, Donna, Amy or Rory. I don't own a lot of things in this chapter. For instance: "You're So Vain" that belongs to Carly Simon. Any other songs, like "One" and "With Or Without You" they belong to U2. Thanks for reading and following and reviewing, I really appreciate it. Enjoy this conclusion and please let me know what you think.

* * *

><p>Rory was relieved when he heard the sound of the TARDIS brakes in his cell. He looked up to see the blue box and the door opened, revealing the Doctor's gangly frame.<p>

"Doctor! Thank God you're here!," he shouted.

"Shh!," said the Doctor, putting a finger over his mouth. "Quiet! We finally got Zara to sleep!"

"Fine, whatever," said Rory, rushing into the TARDIS.

Donna looked at him quizzically. "What have you done to your hair? Wait, was that the packet of hair coloring I bought?" She looked at the Doctor. "You said it got sucked into the vortex!"

"You don't need it. Besides," the Doctor said motioning at Rory's head, "it's the wrong shade of ginger. You would look ridiculous. Not that you could ever look ridiculous, even with the wrong shade of hair color, you would still be gorgeous, not that you would ever buy the wrong-"

"Okay, you can shut up now," said Donna.

"Okay," said the Doctor.

"How do we stop the war from starting?," asked Amy.

"Right, how do we stop the insane redheads from killing everyone?," asked Rory.

Amy shot him a look. "What do you mean 'insane redheads'? It was the others that sent them out here."

"Not helping," said the Doctor.

"They called me brown scalp!," Rory protested.

"Can't we just explain to them about the experiment?," asked Donna.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't know if that would work. You saw the way the ginger reacted with the mountain. I bet it's the same in the other settlement. These two peoples have spent so long hating each other, you told me they even hand over their own children if they don't have the right hair color."

"What's with the goggles?," asked Amy.

"What?," asked the Doctor.

"Back at the other settlement," said Amy. "Everyone had those goggles on. Nobody wore them here. Why do they all have to have goggles?"

"It's not the sun," said Donna. "It's so weak here. No sandstorms or anything."

"Amy, you're brilliant!," shouted the Doctor.

"Doctor!," Donna hissed. "Noise level. Zara?"

"Oh, right," he said, "Amy, you're brilliant, that's just it. The woman back at the other town didn't think I could see the gingers without the lenses."

"So, they don't think they can see gingers without the goggles?," asked Amy.

"That's the barmiest thing I've ever heard," said Donna.

"Societies often make up ridiculous myths to support their propaganda," said the Doctor.

"But if we can get them to take off the goggles, they'll realize they can see gingers without them," said Amy.

"So what? You set your sonic for glass breaking and the lenses all shatter?"

"You want broken glass by people's eyes?," asked Rory. "That's incredibly unsafe."

"Yeah, so's a war. At least I'm pitching ideas. You've hardly contributed," said Donna.

Rory looked around helplessly. "I got captured!"

"Okay, stop bickering. We need to think! How do we get the others to take off their goggles and get the gingers to not kill them?"

"What if it was dark out?," asked Rory. "Those things had some kind of shading."

"They still wore them at night," said Amy.

"A total eclipse of the sun!," shouted the Doctor. "Like the one I saw in Nova Scotia with Carly Simon!"

"One, that song is not about you. Two, you wake Zara and I'm stabbing you in at least one of your hearts. Three, I thought you weren't supposed to look at a solar eclipse."

"You're not," said the Doctor. "We'll have to modify it a bit, we'll just block out the sun."

"Won't that kill all life on the planet?," asked Rory.

"Well, I don't mean to do it forever!"

"That's it!," shouted Amy.

"Zara..." Donna hissed.

"What? Killing everyone?," asked the Doctor.

"No, it's in the storybook I got at the shop." She took it off the TARDIS console and flipped towards the back, " If the Ginger cause be wrong, then out will go the sun."

"That doesn't even rhyme," said Rory.

"That's not the point! The point is they believe this stuff! They teach it to their children!"

"They're crazy for this stuff," said Donna. "I spent hours watching a film that basically listed every mildly interesting ginger in history."

The Doctor took the book. "This is it. Amy, you're brilliant."

Donna raised an eyebrow.

"And I mean that in the most platonic way possible, just so we're clear," said the Doctor with wide eyes.

* * *

><p>"Why does the TARDIS have a sun-blocking mode?," asked Amy.<p>

They had landed the TARDIS back at the brown and yellow scalp settlement. Amy had borrowed a floppy brown hat from the TARDIS wardrobe and tucked her hair as best she could. Rory's hair was still reddish and had been stuck with a black stovepipe hat.

"Why do you even have a stovepipe hat?," asked Rory.

"What's wrong with it?," asked the Doctor, seeming offended.

"How are you even going to block out the sun?"

"Do you want me to ruin everything and take all the fun out of life by telling you?," asked the Doctor.

"No," said Amy with a smile, "I just figured you would want to tell us to prove how smart you are."

The Doctor was doing something with the sonic screwdriver that was somehow going to block out the sun. The people of the town were going about their business, totally unaware that a ginger army was approaching.

"Doctor," said Donna, poking her knit beret clad head out of the TARDIS, "all your ginger dots are coming."

The Doctor, Amy and Rory looked. The ginger armies were standing outside the settlement gate, starting another cheer for the Planet of the Gingers. Some of the people on the inside had started to notice and were screaming/panicking accordingly.

The Doctor worked quickly, fingers flying across the panel. As the gate to the city fell, the sun began to disappear, resulting in more screams and confusion as the non-Gingers tried to run, forcing them to take off their goggles.

The ginger army stopped, puzzled at the sudden fulfillment of the prophecy.

The non-Gingers realized that they could see the Gingers.

There was a stalemate of confusion.

"We can see you."

The soldiers looked at each other. "They said the sun would shine on the Planet of the Gingers forever."

Neither side seemed to be getting it, the four worried.

"Don't you get it?," Amy shouted.

"Amy, don't," said Rory, quickly following her to the midst of the fray. The Doctor hurried to fix the sun blocker.

"It's brown scalp!," shouted one of the soldiers that Rory recognized.

"I have a name," said Rory.

"Where did you get that daft hat?," asked another of the soldiers.

"This whole thing! The Gingers and non-Gingers! It's a lie! It's just a hair color!"

"And pale skin!," added someone.

"Fine, yeah, and pale skin," said Amy. "Point is, you're all people. You've been lied to for so long, made to hate each other and you don't have to! You can share this planet, you don't have to hate each other! Look!"

Amy stunned them all by taking her hat off and kissing Rory.

"See? You can live together! Gingers! Brown scalps! Yellow scalps! You can all be one!"

"Hey, the sun's coming back!," shouted someone.

"Damn," said the Doctor, "signal's failing."

"Might have worked out," said Donna, motioning at the change in the crowd's attention.

All eyes were now on Amy.

"You brought back the sun!," someone shouted.

"What do we do now, great one?," asked another.

"Please tell us, ginger goddess!"

Amy looked at the Doctor who just shrugged.

"I think you have to say something," Rory whispered.

"What?"

"Uh, anything."

Amy tried to shake off her anxiety. "Well, you know, you've got to learn to live together, you know, because love... is a temple. Love's a higher law. One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should. One life with each other, sisters, brothers," she said turning for dramatic effect as if she thought of it. "One life, but we're not the same, we get to carry each other, carry each other. One life... one."

Amy looked around at the expectant crowd as the sun was finally revealed. "Uh, sorry, that's the end of the song."

Everyone erupted in applause and tears.

"We should go," said Rory.

* * *

><p>The Doctor went in the master bedroom, back to his own ginger. He found Donna in bed, covers pulled over her as music played.<p>

"This song is about you," said Donna.

"What?," asked the Doctor as he changed into his pajamas. He realized that "You're So Vain" was playing. "Oh, yes. Carly Simon was brilliant. Mind you it is a composite and she didn't mention the TARDIS, frankly, the old girl's never gotten over it. What made you believe me?"

"It's in the lyrics," said Donna with a roll of her eyes. "It's about your fourth incarnation. I thought 'your hat strategically dipped beneath one eye' was a coincidence, then that bit about the scarf being apricot..."

The Doctor shrugged. "Carly said multi-colored didn't rhyme well."

"'You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive'?," asked Donna with a tilt of her head.

"Not like that," said the Doctor. "I took her to Nova Scotia to see a total eclipse of the sun, that other bit was Warren Beatty or Mick Jagger or... I don't know. I forget."

"The song said that was a Lear Jet."

"Carly said TARDIS didn't rhyme with anything."

The ship hummed bitterly. The Doctor smiled and laid down next to Donna. He rubbed his hand over her stomach. "How is miss?"

"She likes the music," Donna said with closed eyes. Then she started singing softly, "_Dad's so vain, that's why Carly Simon wrote this song about him..."_

* * *

><p>Amy and Rory sat in the TARDIS kitchen eating some of the ramen from the Ginger City, while U2 played.<p>

"I always knew it was a good idea to skip school and sneak off to Glastonbury to see U2 with my cousins. Never thought I'd save a planet with it," said Amy.

"Yeah," said Rory.

"The Doctor and Donna are lucky, don't you think?," asked Amy.

"How?"

"They love each other so much and it's so easy for them and you know nothing could ever change that."

Rory noticed how Amy's face glowed as she spoke of them.

"The Doctor told me that they started out as friends," said Rory in a futile attempt to contribute to the conversation.

"Yeah, Donna told me the same thing," Amy said smiling. "Apparently, she was going to marry another man and the TARDIS kidnapped her."

"Well, he told me that Donna kissed him after he got cyanide poisoning and that's how it started." He cringed internally hoping that Amy hadn't noticed the similarities.

"Thanks for coming after me," said Amy.

"You're welcome."

"And for not being weird about the kiss. I was just trying to prove a point."

"Oh, no problem," said Rory forcing a smile on his face.

Amy grinned and slurped the last of her noodles. "Oh, I love this song. At Glastonbury, the crowd sang the whole first verse."

"With or Without You?," asked Rory.

"Yeah," said Amy. "Well, I'm off to bed. Night."

"Good night," said Rory.

Amy walked down the hall singing along. "_And you give yourself away, and you give yourself away, and you give, and you give..."_

Rory listened as her voice trailed off and finished his ramen.

* * *

><p>Yet More Author's Notes: Okay, conclusion of that story. You might enjoy the sequel, "I Said Not A Space Cave." A taste of it should be up very soon if it's not up already by the time you read this. Thanks again for reading!<p> 


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